Top runs in Athlone
The St Senan’s juvenile and novice teams traveled to Athlone IT last Sunday for the All Ireland even aged juvenile cross country and AAI novice championships and turned in some great performances. Bronagh Kearns placed 13^th in the girls U/12 with a cracking run to lead Leinster to a bronze medal. Adele Walsh cracked the top ten in the ladie’s novice race finished in 9^th place with a confident run. Sean Caulfield, Aidan Lanigan and James Howley all ran well in the men’s event with Sean and Aidan winning silver medals with the Kilkenny squad.

Girls Races
Leinster champion Bronagh Kearns was always well placed in the girls U/12 event and came through strongly in the final 300m to finish in 13^th position. She was the leading Leinster scorer and picked up an All Ireland bronze for her trouble. Daughter of Elaine and Johnny Kearns of Ardara, Bronagh is an exciting prospect and a name to watch for the future. 
Another good Kilkenny performance in the same race was the 15^th placing of Megan O’Keefe of KCH. In the U/14 race Fiona Dennehy and Emer Breathnach had a tough introduction to All Ireland standards, but both competed well and will benefit from the experience. 
The U/16 race saw a real battle between the Ferrybank team led by Ciara Cronin and a strong DSD squad. In the finish Cronin took individual honours with DSD taking the club title. Rosanne Kennedy had a fine run finishing the middle of the field to round off a great season for the popular athlete and singer. 
In the final juvenile race Leanne Foskin went with the fast early pace and was in the top ten on lap one. She stuck to the task well when the going got tough on lap two finishing in 32^nd place overall.

Famous Fathers
Diarmuid Cody, a son of Kilkenny hurling manager Brian Cody had an excellent run in the U/12 race finishing in 10^th place. Flying the flag for us redheads, he always gives full commitment and is another exciting young KCH talent. Good runs too by Conor Fenlon in 17^th position and James Deasy of Thomastown. 
The U/14 race saw an impressive win for Shane Quinn of Ferrybank, who made the running from the gun and was a class apart. Son of Olympian Brendan, he is one of a talented family of runners. 
In the U/16 race Ciaran Phelan of Aghaviller was the sole Kilkenny runner and ran a strong race. T
he U/18 race was a high class affair with Ciaran O’Lionard forcing the early pace, chased by Brian Faulkner St Malachys, Niall Tuohy and Kevin Cooper Ferrybank. He continued to stretch away and at the finish was a comfortable winner with John Coughlan, a son of famous Eamon getting up for silver. Tuohy and Cooper were both in the top ten, an especially impressive run by young Kevin Cooper who is still just 15 years old.

Going for Broke
Adele Walsh showed plenty of confidence and resolve as she led the ladies novice race up the steep hill on lap one. Among those chasing was Diane Behan of West Waterford, well recovered by now from a tough marathon in October. A group of three broke clear on the final lap with Adele just 30m behind At the finish she was in 9^th place overall, just 10 seconds off a medal. This is a huge improvement on her previous best and will be a big boost to her confidence going into next Sunday’s county senior clash with Sinead Cummins of St Josephs among others. Other Kilkenny placings were Caoimhe Foley 19^th, Sinead Foley 30^th, Catherine Rice 43^rd and Ciara Martin 54^th all of KCH.

Caulfield is Super Value
Sean Caulfield is a real value for money runner and never gives less than his best. With just a short few weeks training behind him he still finished well up in a highly competitive men’s novice race. Good runs too by Aidan Lanigan and James Howley.  Best of Kilkenny’s runners was Eoin Everard of KCH who was 12^th just one place ahead of Niall Sheehan of Gowran AC. Willie Hoyne of Thomastown had his best run in 26^th position followed by team mate Denis O’Sullivan. Sean and  Aidan both scored on the Kilkenny team that scooped the silver medals. Well done to all three.

Could be the Life of Brian
Brian Maher of KCH and Mick Kelly of Gowran AC look to be the two main contenders in next Sunday’s county senior cross country clash in Jenkinstown. Both are in good form with Maher having an impressive 15^th place finish in AAI Intercounties in Sligo two weeks ago. Tommy Evans of Gowran and Niall Sheehan of Gowran  should also feature as should Eoin Everard of KCH. The St Senans team will be led by the Molum Collossus, Owen Gahan, with Sean Caulfield, Aidan Lanigan, James Howley, Nicholas Halley, Damien Walsh and PJ Dwyer all challenging for places. Others in the line up include PJ Irish, Martin Delahunty, Mark Connolly and Gerry Madden. The ladies race could also be a head to head as present and former champions Adele Walsh and Sinead Cummins clash, with both in great shape. Liz Nolan and Caoimhe Foley will lead a strong KCH team that look favourite to pick up the team title. The St Senans team will include Catherine Fennelly, Cait Caulfield and Aisling Aylward.  Should be a great day’s racing, with the first race off at 2.00pm. The event will be followed by refreshments and the County Board raffle in the Hogan Stand, Ballyraggett.

Manic Street Screechers
The bus home from Athlone last Sunday rang to the sweet sounds of the ‘St Senan’s Backseat Choral Society’, who performed hits from today and yesteryear as well as a special Christmas selection. Led by lead sopranos Rosanne Kennedy, Janet Moore, Fiona Dennehy, Emer Breathnach and Leanne Foskin, the choir also featured a male section that included international baritones David Walsh, Willum Walsh, and David Irish along with bass baritone John Vereker. The performance was marred by some hecklers from the front led by Caoimhe Kearns and Tara Lacey, whose rendition of the hymn ‘You’re all very noisy down the back’ was encouraged by well known Mooncoin tenor Johann Sebastian Kearns. Bus driver Pat Duggan is still getting counselling, to help him cope!!